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David Younce is the new superintendent of the Rutland South Supervisory Union.

NORTH CLARENDON — The Rutland South Supervisory Union has found its new superintendent.

David Younce, 39, will replace outgoing Superintendent Dana Cole-Levesque, who is retiring at the end of June.

“I’m super excited about David coming here,” said Elisabeth Kulas, a member of the of the Clarendon Elementary School Board who — along with other board members, teachers and administrators — served on the search committee for the new superintendent.

“He brings an outside perspective on national issues, such as implementing the common core curriculum,” Kulas said. “I think he knows how to build relationships with the different members of our community.”

Younce received a Bachelor of Science degree in history and secondary education from Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Aurora University, also in Illinois.

For the past nine years, Younce has been the principal of Fry Elementary School in Naperville, Ill., a K-5 school with 600 students located approximately 30 miles west of Chicago.

In an interview Monday, Younce said he looked forward to the increased responsibility that comes with being a superintendent.

“I started out as a substitute teacher. Then I became a teacher, and then an assistant principal and now principal. Every step along the away, I have enjoyed the larger scope of responsibility,” Younce said. “I believe the way to help kids is to build relationships, and as superintendent I will be able to do that on a larger scale.”

The Rutland South Supervisory Union includes elementary schools in Clarendon, Shrewsbury and Wallingford, and Mill River Union High School.

Younce was one of approximately 25 candidates reviewed by the search committee, which began its work in October and conducted interviews first by telephone and later face to face, Kulas said.

Younce has a two-year contract with the supervisory union, with an annual salary of $112,500. He will replace Cole-Levesque, 63, who is finishing his fourth year as district superintendent and will retire effective June 30. Younce will take over July 1.

The Younce family, which includes wife Beth and two sons — 12-year-old Logan and 9-year-old Nathan — will move into Beth’s family homestead in Arlington, with the boys attending Fisher Elementary and Arlington Memorial High School. The sons will be the fifth generation to live in the home.

“Something we’ve always intended to do is raise our kids in Vermont. That’s the kind of experience we want them to have,” Younce said. “For me, the three most important things are my faith, my family and doing a good job in the things I do.”